On Monday, November 2, Glenn Maxwell announced his retirement from international cricket. While the all-rounder stepped away from ODIs in June 2025, he has now bid adieu to T20Is, List A and first-class cricket as well.
However, Maxwell will continue to play the Big Bash League (BBL) for Melbourne Stars. He ended his T20I career with 2,897 runs in 130 games at a strike rate of over 154, including five centuries.
Speaking to reporters after announcing his retirement, Maxwell revealed that there wasn’t any pressure from Australian team management and he had taken the decision after numerous discussions with his close ones.
“We probably had numerous discussions before and after the T20 World Cup,” Maxwell said on The Final Word podcast.
“And it was pretty open-ended. There wasn’t any pressure from [Australia team management] and we decided to sort of leave the door open. There was a couple of series that were coming up [in which] they were going to look to the future, and we saw that in Bangladesh with guys getting their opportunity and performing really well,” he added.
England’s upcoming white-ball tour of Australia includes a T20I in Melbourne, and Glenn Maxwell admitted that the possibility of a farewell game at his home venue had crossed his mind. The all-rounder’s final international appearance came against Oman in February, Australia’s last match at the T20 World Cup 2026.
“[There was, I] suppose, a small hope or discussion that I might have been able to potentially get a send-off game at the MCG. But [I] can completely understand the direction they’re going with this squad. There’s going to be a lot of change, I suppose, over the next 12 to 24 months with the Olympics coming up [in 2028], and they’ve got to make sure that they get their eyeballs on a few young guys coming through and making sure that they’re getting exposed to international pressure that you probably can’t always get from a BBL fixture,” he stated.
“So probably just the small fairy tale that you sort of see these, your heroes and idols, sort of go through. You start to sort of let your mind drift towards that, and probably no other format I probably would have asked for it, except for this one, where I feel like it’s been, it’s almost felt like home over the last 15 years.
“The option was there, but I was sort of ready to push the button on getting an injection on my knee to make sure I was ready for the BBL. So there was sort of a positive either way. And as soon as that door was shut, I was able to start to put some time back into my body. Eight weeks of solid rehab again to make sure I’m strong and ready for the BBL coming up.
“It’s probably a time when I need to spend a little bit more time investing in the body to make sure I can get through the remaining couple of tournaments I’ve got in my career,” he concluded.
